The SUV slowed and Jaemus jumped out before Nika could bring the vehicle to a full stop.

“Jaemus!” she called, but he kept moving, running toward the overturned ambulance, an uneasy feeling permeating his gut.

The back doors of the ambulance were open, one of them barely hanging on. A peek inside revealed supplies scattered about the interior and an upended gurney. A female EMT was pinned by the gurney and when Jaemus yelled to her, her eyes fluttered open. Her hand immediately went to her temple where a river of blood streamed down her cheek. Her gaze darted around her surroundings and when it settled on Jaemus, she blinked rapidly as if trying to process what she was seeing.

“My partner…” She raised a shaking hand and pointed to the driver’s seat. “Is she… oh, God… where is she?”

Jaemus ran around to the front of the disabled vehicle and climbed onto it. He peered into the window, but didn’t see anyone in the driver’s seat. Taking a deep inhale, he smelled a particular odor, something familiar, something… unpleasant.

Robert Senclair.

He raced to the back of the ambulance and ripped the broken door off completely. Using his werewolf strength, he slid the gurney out, careful not to further injure the EMT.

“How bad are you hurt?” He stepped into the ambulance and crouched beside her. He found some gauze pads and handed them to her to press to her bleeding wound.

“I’m okay. Just got knocked around when the ambulance flipped.” Slowly, she got to her feet, accepting Jaemus’s steadying hand.

He guided her out of the vehicle as Nika ran toward them. Before she caught up to them, he put his hands on the EMT’s shoulders and waited for her to look up at him. “You were carrying Robert Senclair, aye?”

“Yes. He lunged after the officer that was riding with us. Used a syringe as a weapon then grabbed the officer’s gun. I don’t know where the officer is.” A few tears escaped from the EMT’s eyes and she hastily wiped them away. “I think… I think he may have shot Dawna. That’s why the ambulance flipped.” She sniffed, fighting her tears. “I don’t know what happened after the accident.”

Jaemus inhaled deeply again. A light breeze blew tonight and Robert’s scent hit him again from the east.

Nika stopped next to him, her breathing labored from running. “Helene? Are you okay?”

“Call the police,” Jaemus said to her, “and another ambulance.” He started to run toward Senclair’s stench, but Nika grabbed his arm.

“Where are you going?”

“This ambulance was carrying Robert.”

Nika’s face paled, and he hated to see her frightened. “He caused this?”

Helene nodded. “And I don’t know where Dawna is or the officer that was escorting us.”

“I’m going to look for them.” Jaemus pulled Nika into a quick hug. “Please get help for Helene and report what’s happened. Stay here. Don’t follow me.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but Helene crumpled to the ground, clearly needing someone’s help.

Jaemus took off, Robert’s smell like a trail of breadcrumbs for him. The scent of blood mixed in as well and the deeper he got into the woods, the more he worried about the other EMT and the officer. What had Senclair done to them?

Should have ended Senclair when I had the chance.

But that would have been using his wolf to kill, and who knew what Flidae would do if he made that mistake again? Not that banishment had been going that poorly for him recently. Being on that island alone at the start of the goddess’s punishment had been harsh, but ending up here in Vermont had brought him great pleasure. Pleasure in the form of one wonderful woman he’d do absolutely anything for.

Even kill? came Flidae’s voice.

He slowed his pace to smell more precisely and contemplate Flidae’s question. Would he kill for Nika? Would he take another life to protect her?

Aye. Gods be damned, he would.

You love her. Flidae’s voice held a note of awe.

Completely.

Fascinating…

Suddenly, a strange light illuminated the woods, creating a path that Jaemus followed. When he reached the brightest spot on the path, a woman leaned against a rock in a small clearing. She held her shoulder with her hand, red seeping through her fingers.

“Dawna?”

She flicked her gaze up to meet his. “Oh, thank God. Did Helene send you?”

He nodded. “Where is the officer?”

Dawna pointed to the clearing, her lip trembling. “Senclair killed him.”

Jaemus looked in the direction she’d pointed and darted over to the officer’s prone body. Flipping him over, he checked for a pulse, but found none. He did, however, find a bullet wound in the man’s chest.

He sprinted back to Dawna and scooped the woman up into his arms. “Let’s get you some medical attention.” He ran back to where Nika and Helene waited for reinforcements.

“Dawna!” Helene was fully crying now. “I thought you were… I thought…”

“Me too, but somebody upstairs likes me and sent this hunk to get me.”

When Jaemus set Dawna on her feet, Helene threw her arms around the other woman and laughed. “That hunk belongs to Nika. Besides, you’re mine anyway.”

“Always.” Dawna stepped back and inspected Helene’s temple, still oozing fresh blood. “That bastard hurt you too.”

“What happened to that bastard?” Jaemus asked. He needed to get back into the woods before Robert’s trail blew away on the summer breeze.

Or did he?

Closing his eyes, he reached out to Flidae. Can you show me where Robert is?

A vision of Nika’s barn popped into his head. Robert limped along the exterior, indicating he’d been injured in the ambulance accident as well. As he moved in the darkness, a floodlight flared on, revealing the gun in Robert’s hand. He approached the French doors Jaemus had installed and used the gun to break a pane of glass by the door knob. Unlocking the door, Robert slipped inside. He made his way to the couch and sat in the middle of it, facing the door Nika and Jaemus usually used to enter the barn. Checking the gun, Robert waited.

As quickly as the vision came to Jaemus, it disappeared. “I have to go.”

“Where?” Nika asked. “Dawna said she doesn’t know where Robert went.”

He’d missed Dawna’s reply while studying the vision Flidae had sent him. “I have an idea of where to find him. I still want you to wait for the police, sprite. Go with them. Be safe.”

Sirens echoed, and while Nika and the two EMTs looked in the direction of the sound, Jaemus took off again. When he was far enough away, he shifted to full wolf, shedding his clothes and increasing his speed toward Nika’s barn.

Robert would be expecting Nika or Jaemus or both of them. He wouldn’t be expecting a large, silver wolf with razor-sharp teeth and claws strong enough to gut a man.

Claws that want to gut a man.

Robert Senclair didn’t deserve to live. Maybe Jaemus wasn’t the one to make that decision, but he had made it just the same. They’d gone the legal route, and Senclair had found a way around that.

No more. No more chances for this menace.

Soon Nika’s property came into view ahead of him. Seeing the ruined trading post made Jaemus’s chest ache. Its dark, hollow silhouette looked like something out of a nightmare. He wished he could remove all the debris before Nika had to witness the decimation.

But he had another task to attend to. A task that waited inside the barn.

Skulking in the shadows, Jaemus approached the French doors, one of which was still open. Careless. That gave him hope that Robert was not as focused as he’d probably like to be. Perhaps whatever caused him to limp was more serious than Jaemus knew. Maybe the man was too far out of his mind to worry about the details. Possibly Robert thought a gun would be enough.

Jaemus, however, had learned from his experience with a gun earlier tonight. Though he understood it could do great damage, he now also knew that it was only as good as the condition of the one in possession of the weapon.

Take that man down and a gun was useless.

He peered into the barn, easily finding Robert’s head resting on the back of the couch. His couch. One he’d made love to Nika on loads of times. One he hoped to use in that way again. Soon.

As he put a paw into the barn, something nudged his right flank. Turning his head, he was surprised to see two more wolves.

Brandy? Reardon?

Aye. Though Reardon’s black wolf mouth hadn’t moved, Jaemus had heard his brother’s voice loud and clear in his head.

You two shouldn’t be here. He didn’t want to have to worry about them getting hurt.

Maybe not just the two of us, Brandy said.

But a pack is always good to have on your side. Reardon motioned with his black muzzle to the rest of the Silver Moon Sanctuary wolves behind them.

I can’t ask them to risk their lives either.

Brandy shook her head, her ears flicking away bugs. You’re not asking them. They came freely. Since Reardon turned me, my bond with them is tighter than ever. They sensed trouble, and they are here to help.

He has a gun. That would scare them away.

Not for long. Reardon stepped into the barn, Brandy following close behind him. The other wolves streamed in, fanning out in the dark interior.

Even here you have an army, brother. Jaemus poked his nose into Reardon’s furry side.

Reardon’s left ear—the one with the tip missing—twitched. But let’s use this one for worthier causes.

Aye.

Jaemus waited for a five count until the wolves were in position behind the couch. With a powerful leap, he jumped over the couch and landed on top of Robert, pinning the man to the cushions beneath him. His plan had been to overpower the bastard, knock the gun out of his slimy hands, bite a hole in his neck.

End. Him.

Instead, a shot rang out and something warm and wet and crimson stained soft, silver fur.

****

Something squeezed the air out of Nika’s lungs, and she slumped forward in a chair in Sheriff Olsen’s office.

“Nika?”

She heard the sheriff’s voice. Saw him round his desk and come to her. Felt his hand on her back, but she couldn’t reply. She’d been giving her statement about Robert after the second ambulance had dropped Helene and Dawna off at the hospital. She’d gotten to the part where she’d come upon Robert holding a gun to Jaemus’s head by the river near the library. Then the office had spun around her. She’d closed her eyes, figuring all the anxiety tonight had stirred up inside her had screwed with her system.

Nika took a deep breath, but it was as if someone had put her lungs in a vise.

“You’re hyperventilating, Nika.” Olsen went to his desk and grabbed the water bottle she’d been drinking. Uncapping it, he held it out to her. “Here, drink some.”

She took the bottle, even put it to her lips, but pain shot through her chest. The water bottle dropped, bouncing to the floor and splashing water all over her legs.

I’m having a heart attack. Of all the ways she’d pictured herself checking out, a heart attack wasn’t one of them. Starvation? Yes. Bear attack? Yup. Old age? Most likely. But heart attack? Nope. Not once had she considered that option.

And now it was happening.

She closed her eyes, but the blackness she was expecting didn’t come. Instead an image of a huge silver wolf covered in blood filled the back of her eyelids. She’d never seen Jaemus in his wolf form, but somehow she knew that silver wolf was him. She felt it was him.

“Oh, God…” She coughed, keeping her eyes closed, hoping to see more, praying to see that Jaemus was all right. The only other thing she saw, however, was the inside of her barn… and other wolves. Brandy’s wolves, plus two more she didn’t recognize but assumed were Brandy and Reardon. They were huddled around something she couldn’t see, growling and barking.

“Nika, I’m getting you an ambulance.” Olsen pushed her hair out of her face, no doubt preparing to resuscitate her himself if it came to that.

Slowly, she sat upright. That silver wolf—her Jaemus—definitely looked as if he needed an ambulance, but Nika couldn’t imagine werewolves enjoyed physical examinations. Those probably instigated a host of questions no werewolf wanted to answer.

Besides, didn’t werewolves heal quickly? Maybe the vision she’d seen had just happened. That was why Jaemus looked so bad. Perhaps he was already healed by now.

“No, no ambulance.” Not for her. Not for Jaemus. “But I have to go home. The stress of the day is catching up to me.”

The sheriff was about to object, but then he said, “Okay. Sure.” He went back to his desk and turned his laptop toward Nika. “Can you finish your statement first? I’ve sent teams out to hunt for Senclair, but the more documentation against him we have, the better off we are.”

Nika nodded and typed furiously until everything she had on Robert was included. “That should do it.” She slid the laptop back toward Olsen. “If you have any other questions—or if you find the bastard—let me know.”

“Will do.” Sheriff Olsen stood when she did. “Let me get a patrolman to take you home.”

“Thanks, but I’m okay to drive.” She smiled at his raised eyebrow. “Seriously.” She put her hand up as if taking an oath. “I promise. I’ve got this.” Because she needed to get this without police supervision.

“I’m not only concerned about whether or not you can drive, Nika. Senclair is still out there somewhere. You shouldn’t be unprotected.”

Right. A nasty detail.

“Can an officer follow me home?” Maybe she’d be able to think of a way to lose him on the drive to her barn.

“A good compromise.” Olsen smiled. “Thanks for letting me feel as if I’m doing my job properly.”

In five minutes, Nika was on the road home. As each mile ticked by on the odometer, she checked her rearview to see the officer tailing her. She wasn’t going to be able to lose him. She’d have to hope he was an open-minded guy who wouldn’t freak out about anything he may be about to see at her barn.

Or better yet, maybe there wouldn’t be anything to see at her barn. Maybe that vision was her mind toying with her. Maybe Jaemus would be waiting for her on his couch, ready to spend the night making wild love to her.

She increased her speed, and when she reached her property, she guided Brandy’s SUV around to the barn with the officer parking right behind her. As she led him to the door, she begged anyone who would listen for a damn miracle.

After she pushed open the door, the officer insisted that he go in first. Nika let him pass and low growls emanated from the interior.

“What the hell…” The officer stumbled back a step, reaching for his gun.

In the dimness of the barn, Nika could see several sets of eyes reflecting back at her. “Just wolves. From the sanctuary next door. They’re very protective. I’m certain I’ll be fine here.” She stilled his hand on his gun.

After studying her and the wolves for a moment, the officer released his weapon and pulled out his phone. A minute later, Nika heard, “This is Reeves. Ms. Skarvinski has reached her home and the place is secure.”

“Roger that,” came back. “Join the hunt for Senclair then.”

Reeves pocketed his phone. “You’re sure this is okay?” He gestured over his shoulder where the wolves sat like a furry barrier between her and whatever was behind them.

“Positive. They’re like big puppies. They like visiting me.” She edged him toward the door. “Thanks for your escort.”

With a hesitant nod, Reeves left and Nika quietly shut the door, locking it. She whirled around to face the big black wolf who had come forward from the pack.

“Reardon?”

The wolf bowed his head and let out a short bark. He backed up toward the couch where the other wolves had moved to make a path. When Nika saw the silver wolf sprawled on the floor in front of the couch, she ran toward him.

“Jaemus!”

She fell to her knees beside the wolf’s body. A wheezing sound escaped from the wolf on each short pant of breath. Blood matted the beautiful silver fur and pooled on the hardwood floors Jaemus had refinished.

“He’s going to heal, right?” She stared into Reardon’s green-gold eyes.

He lowered to his belly, whining cries echoing from the other wolves as they licked the silver wolf’s face.

Is this wound too bad to heal?

Was she losing Jaemus right now?

“No. God, no.” She had to get him help. “Brandy. Where’s Brandy?” The wildlife biologist would know what to do. According to their story, Brandy had helped Reardon when he’d been shot in wolf form and Reardon had been okay. “Where is she, Reardon?”

Reardon barked at the open French doors, and Nika dug out her cell phone. She dialed the sanctuary.

“I’m coming. Ran back to my place for supplies,” Brandy said when she answered.

Thank God.

A bright light flashed, illuminating the entire barn’s interior. In that instant, Nika saw two things. The first was Robert Senclair backed into a corner of the barn by a quartet of Silver Moon wolves, their jaws snapping and snarling growls vibrating menacingly.

The second thing was a gorgeous woman with long, raven hair and a flowing white dress. She floated above Jaemus and Nika, regarding them with glowing eyes.

“This wolf is dying,” the woman said. “I shall take him.”

Nika let her cell phone drop. “Please don’t. Please don’t take him. Help him, Flidae.”

The woman angled her head and met Nika’s gaze directly. “You know me?”

“I assumed you must be the goddess of wild things if you’ve come for this wild thing.” Nika motioned to Jaemus, whose chest barely rose and fell now. “But I don’t want you to collect him. And I don’t want him to die.”

“Why?” Curiosity flickered on Flidae’s unnaturally perfect face.

Reardon came over, but he instantly cowered when Flidae held out her hand as if she’d silently ordered him to mind his own business.

“I love Jaemus. He means everything to me. I don’t want to be here without him.” Nika pressed her palm against the silver wolf’s cheek, gently petting the fur there. She ran her finger along a line where no fur grew at his jaw—where that scar that cut through his beard must be when he was a human. Her tears fell, mixing with Jaemus’s blood. “He was trying to protect me.”

“From what?”

“Him.” Nika pointed to Robert, still held captive by wolves.

“If you’d just agreed to my terms, Nika,” Robert said, “no one would be dying right now. But you didn’t. You let your stupid Wolfman get between us.”

Flidae turned to look at Robert. She floated over to him, his eyes going super wide, his skin paling. Inhaling deeply, she immediately backed away. “You smell like evil.”

Robert opened his mouth, but Flidae raised her hands and his jaws snapped shut.

“You killed my wolf.”

“He attacked me.”

“Because you threatened his mate.”

“His mate? He’s a goddamn wolf. Besides, Nika is supposed to be my mate.” Robert’s voice rose, but the wolves each took a step closer, their low growls baring more of their teeth.

Flidae shook her head, her black hair swishing about her shoulders. “Anyone can see her mate is my wolf.”

At her knees, Jaemus took in a shuddery breath. His golden brown eyes opened and he looked at Nika.

“Hi, Wolfman.” She buried her face in the fur at his neck.

I love you, sprite.

Nika bolted up at the sound of Jaemus’s voice in her head. She was about to say she loved him too, would love him forever if he stayed with her, but his eyes closed again, and he was gone.